Birds of South Africa (Helm Wildlife Guides) Paperback – 29 Sept. 2022

Just what I needed for my holiday at a game park.

Great little guide book when watching Wild EARTH (Freeview CH 91) from my arm chair in the UK, letting the guides find the birds especially Cedric!

South Africa is an outstanding birding destination that should be on every birder’s “must visit” list with a national bird list of 867 species, of which you can expect to see around 500 on a three-week guided tour. Compared to most African countries endemism is high, with 18 endemics and a further 50 restricted-range species. If you haven’t been yet, you really should make plans as it’s a great country.This book is aimed at general wildlife-friendly visitors rather than keen birders who are seeking a bigger list, and it covers 350 of the most widespread species. Each species is described in a succinct text of around 100 words which also summarizes distribution and status. Each species is illustrated with top quality photographs, all of which were taken by the author – a total of over 700 images.If there is a drawback then clearly it is that the author had to choose to leave out many species. In many cases around half of the species in each family are covered, although only one out of four honeyguides is included and the selection of larks is three out of 28, and there is just one pipit out of 13. Admittedly some of these have restricted ranges, but not all. There is an introductory text that outlines 19 sites that you can visit along with the species you might see (but only mentioning those featured in the book).These limitations aside, this is ideal for a general visitor, or one who appreciates that the range offered is restricted.

A lovely book, but several pages at the back had a corner ripped off, so disappointed.